Aesthetics of Badassery [Monday, Period One]

[doubleohblonde]

Bond's class's first clue that all was not well was that when they entered the Danger Shop not only did they find themselves on a majestic ship upon the high seas, but Bond was dressed rather differently and, well, the less said about his hair the better.

"Ahoy lads!" The second, or third, really, clue was that anyone who cared to look at Bond's wrist as he flourished his magnificent and sadly unpictured hat would have noticed a neat ring of bitemarks on it. "And lasses. Now ye may be scurvy landlubbers now, but if ye'll just take a moment to listen ye'll be salty dogs soon enough."

Sadly, whatever wisdom he had been about to impart to them was lost when the ninjas attacked.

[ooc: wait for ocd up]

[Class Roster|Class Rules]

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

The students might have been disappointed to have Cindy at the head of the class again today; another lecture instead of a more hands-on class. Cindy was unconcerned about their hypothetical disappointment--they'd had two easy weeks already. Time for more learning!

"Today, we're looking at the Japanese national legend, the tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin," Cindy said as the bell rang for class. "This is an old story, dating back to the beginning of the eighteenth century and is the most famous example of bushido in action. Bushido is one of the most influential systems honor and conduct in Japan. Bushido is more than a way of life; it is also a preparation for death, making sure one dies with one's honor intact. According to the tenets, the life of a samurai was devoted to making sure that he conducted himself with honor and integrity by upholding the seven virtues: rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty."

She began passing out several handouts, one with the text of the story, the other with an explanation of Bushido and the seven virtues she'd just listed. "Now, ronin literally means 'wave man.' They are masterless samurai; someone adrift and without a defined place in society. For a long time, when a samurai lost his master, either to death or dishonor, he was meant to commit ritual suicide, or seppuku. To follow one's master into death was considered the honorable action, according to Bushido. In this story, Lord Asano attacked his enemy Kira, in the shogunate's palace. Asano failed to kill him and was sentenced to seppuku for the crime of drawing a weapon in Edo Castle. When word of their master's death and the confiscation of Asano's goods and land reached his retainers, a group of them decided that they would exact revenge upon Kira on behalf of their dead master."

"Over the next year and a half, they allayed Kira's suspicions by dispersing; some taking up demeaning jobs, others becoming drunks and whore-mongers. Finally, when Kira let his guard down, the gathered at his home, invaded, and slaughtered Kira and his guards. After Kira was dead, they returned to Asano's grave, placed Kira's head on it, and then committed suppuku to join him in death."

After giving everyone a chance to read through the full story, Cindy took up the discussion thread again. "This all goes back to honor; living by it and dying by it. What is considered honorable changes over time and by culture, so while many people consider this a story of men living up to their personal code, still others are horrified by so much bloodshed--and others still consider it a good story of vengeance, but not Bushido. So, today, we're going to talk about honor. What is it, what it means to us in our own lives, and how our concepts of honor have us perceive the story of the Forty-Seven Ronin."

Tuesday: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse - Period 3

[shotbillmurray.livejournal.com]

"Hey, everyone," Columbus said in greeting as class filed in. "Hopefully you all had a good fall break. Mine was spent in the office going over lesson plans and preparing for the rest of the semester."

( Sure it was... )

Ethics [Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

"Welcome back," Anakin said, striding to the front of the class--where the students' desks had been pushed against the walls--to lean against the blackboard. "Today we move away from Kant and onto an American philosopher named John Rawls. He's a more modern philosopher, and the main tenet of Rawlsianism is that most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position. The question, naturally, then turns into 'what is a fair position' and his use of something called the veil of ignorance that magically makes everyone unaware of their positions in society in order to determine if something is fair or not."

He pushed off of the wall and paced down the center of the room. "Rawls also argues that even meritocracy—a distributive system that rewards effort—doesn’t go far enough in leveling the playing field because those who are naturally gifted will always get ahead. Furthermore, says Rawls, the naturally gifted can’t claim much credit because their success often depends on factors as arbitrary as birth order or how you were raised as a child."

He waved his hand, indicating the students should form a line in the center of the classroom. "Today we'll conduct a little experiment in demonstrating privilege. Afterwards, I want you to discuss if such things matter in Fandom like they do back in your home universes, and if not, why not."

He reached for a piece of paper. "Let's begin."

Library, Tuesday

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa felt exhausted. She had spent most of her break running around Timber, and then out to Dollet and back, trying to work on political matters. Which was good, and her father had even agreed to look over her committee list (!!!!!!) but, well. The end result was that she felt like she needed a vacation from having taken her vacation.

So she was sitting behind the counter today with a mindless book. Sometimes those were the best kind.

(ocd-free / open / SP warning in effect, bbs)

Wednesday: What was the school board thinking giving Jamie Madrox a teaching position?

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

Sometime earlier in the week, the students would have gotten a notice that swimsuits were optional for class today. And anyone fearing the reason why might feel relieved when they saw that the danger shop had been transformed into a cruise ship

But not just any cruise ship. It was a cruise ship staffed by Jamie Madrox duplicates in white uniforms.

"Welcome aboard students!" Jamie said as he doffed a captain's hat. "Today we're going to set a course... for LOVE!"

( Yep. The students should be fearful again. )